The legendary Kasparo bar closes because the owner wanted to quadruple the rent.

Barcelona"And now what are we going to call the Plaça del Kasparo bar?" asks a girl on social media. The bar was so prominent and deeply rooted in Barcelona's Raval neighborhood that its closure leaves many regular customers and Plaça Vicenç Martorell orphaned. Marcelino Carrera and Elisabeth Triadó, the couple who have run it since 1995, have finally given in to the pressure that has forced them to close and retire, which in Triadó's case has come a year early.

Kasparo was working and had a replacement because the bar's son, Alexandre Carrera, worked there and was willing to continue the business. He was already walking around the bar with a tray at the age of six. But two factors have made it unviable for them to continue. On the one hand, having to negotiate a new lease with the owners. The owner of the property, who lives outside of Catalonia, was asking them to practically quadruple the amount they were paying in rent. On the other hand, he wanted to negotiate a new transfer of between 200,000 and 300,000 euros. "If you add to this the pressure from the City Council to reduce tables, you end up losing the will to fight," explains Alexandre Carrera.

Alexandre's father, Marcelino, has spent the last year battling with lawyers and allocating numerous resources to try to find a solution. Ultimately, it wasn't possible. On Saturday, they lowered the shutters for the last time. They had already warned the regular customers: "Those who, when you see them coming, you start preparing your cortado with saccharin or your café con leche with a glass of wine," says Carrera. They gathered and shared a keg of beer, wine, and tortilla pinchos to bid farewell to Kasparo.

They're sad because they've had to lay off 12 people. All the workers have been there for a long time, some more than 20 years. They also feel that the work they did every morning to clean the square and keep everything in order isn't recognized. They provided security at a corner where there were many shoplifting incidents and used a hose to clean up urine from the street. They express disappointment with the city council "because they don't respect businesses that have been around for a long time."

"Who will come next?"

Alexandre Carrera claims the owner of the establishment knows he has the upper hand. He believes the owner is a rentier who wasn't clear about his intentions. "In the end, I knew that if it wasn't us, someone else would pay. Who will come next? I doubt it from people in the neighborhood." In fact, the establishment is for sale on the Idealista website. It has 90 m2.² and they're asking for 800,000 euros. Kasparo had a nice terrace, where the bulk of the diners were, as the interior was small. That's why the reduction of a third of the tables required by the City Council, with constant checks by the Urban Police, and the price increase made the business unviable.

In this case, and despite the sadness of saying goodbye to "the corner" where he grew up, Alexandre Carrera says he doesn't feel like they've "thrown in the towel" and that "a timely withdrawal is a victory." He's happy that his parents can retire and rest. When you ask him about himself, he replies: "I have the ability to look for something else." As will the rest of the workers and the regular customers, whom Alexandre Carrera describes as "a beautiful community." A community that found a space where they could eat healthy food, a menu generous in vegetables and legumes, at affordable prices, and with a daily special that served as a complete meal.